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Charles Leclerc says that he was not happy with his 5th place qualifying result on his debut for Ferrari.
He made several small errors on his final run and was left 0.252 seconds behind his new teammate Sebastian Vettel in 3rd place.
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The former Sauber driver, (now renamed as Alfa Romeo) is still aiming to achieve his first podium at his first race for Ferrari this weekend.
He says that he will learn from the errors he made and ensure that he prepares as well as possible for the race.
"I can't say I'm happy with this qualifying result," Leclerc said. "After a good Q1 and a very good Q2 in Q3 especially on my second run, I made a few too many mistakes especially in the first sector and I was unable to improve.
"I will try to learn from this and to prepare as well as possible for the race. As for the gap to our main competitors, I have to admit that maybe we had expected it to be smaller, even if this is an unusual track which often throws up a different order to what we can see on a more traditional track."
Leclerc still believes the Ferrari has room for improvement and that they will be able to challenge Mercedes but he does doubt that it will happen this weekend.
After their performance during testing, Leclerc admitted that the Mercedes was rapid: "We did not expect them to be so quick in qualifying, we will work from there and hopefully a good start and a good race tomorrow."
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Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Mercedes caught Ferrari napping with that upgrade pack, methinks.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
If you follow volume car manufacturer press like I do as it’s the industry I work in the European OEM’s like Merc, BMW etc are now spending literally €Bn’s on EV technology. Would not be the least surprising to see that is where Merc’s advantage is coming from as its all road relevant in terms of recharge speed, power density, etc.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Well yes, most manufacturers seem to move that way. Although that said, most EVs really don't utilize the MGU aspects that much, and when it comes to Merc' in particular, it seems a bit weird they haven't gunned more for the hybrid market.